Skills to Acquire as a First Year Law Student
Hey there, Law School freshers!
So you have completed the admission process and are a part of a law school now. This is where the magic happens. You hone your skills and transform into a lawyer. Here you learn about various statutes and hopefully with the help of internships, a little about how the justice delivery system works.
At the end of the five-year course, you plan on becoming a litigator or a corporate lawyer or one of the 146 things that you can become out of law school. Bottom line is, you want to become successful.
There are different skill sets required to do well in the different avenues offered in this field but there are a few things that are common and are needed everywhere.
Let us discuss a few skills that you should acquire as a first-year law student
Public Speaking
Ideally, a lot of students choose law as a career because they are good at public speaking. The society tells them that Law is a career where this skill can be used and therefore they set sail to become a lawyer.
This thought is not wrong on all fronts. The only exception is that you can still become a lawyer even if you have average public speaking skills.
However, this is a skill everyone wants in their lawyer. Whether you have to convince the Judge or close a deal with the clients, a good flair of speaking will take you places.
Therefore focus on this skill.
Here are a few things you can do to improve your public speaking
- The main problem that students face is stage fright. They might be good speakers in a closed room with 4 people but cannot help but become anxious when faced by an audience of 100. Take this out as a preliminary measure to master public speaking. Like all combat training, this fear will only be gone or controlled when the element of surprise is gone and familiarity sets in. So, face the crowd. Face your fear. I know, easier said than done but increase the crowd slowly. When among a group of friends, speak your mind out. Then slowly progress to speaking freely in class. Once this step is done, speaking in front of people on stage will seem easier.
- Learn to think fast. Yes, slow thoughts will lead to stammering on stage, or atleast a lack of words will result in a long awkward pause in your speech. Therefore read a lot, talk a lot with people and think a lot. This will improve your mind’s speed of churning out words.
- Master the language. If you prefer to speak in English on stage, you must master it. Bad grammar or vocabulary will always be a hurdle. Learn more words and their meanings. Use them daily.
Research
Anywhere you go, research will always come in handy. In fact, anywhere you go, research will always be a necessary skill.
It does not matter whether you’re at a law firm or at an advocate’s office, research work is always given to fresh associates. Even in law school, research is required for your coursework and moot courts.
Develop this skill with your best efforts.
You can talk to your faculty or seniors for tips on research or if you want to do an online course, there are some quality research courses available online.
Writing
As an advocate, there are two important things in life.
Drafting and Pleading.
The drafting part stems from legal writing. Therefore as a first-year student, if you want to get quality work in your internships and learn to draft the various documents required in a case, you need to hone your writing skills.
This can be done with practice and practice alone. First, focus on reading a lot. This will give you an idea about how the flow of an article is maintained, then focus on writing.
There are the skills you must master as a fresher in law school.
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Aditya Anand
Contributing author
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